


A Little Support

by LittleSweetCheeks



Series: While We Sleep [3]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Dreams, Friendship, Gen, Moving On, moral support
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 07:11:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13266354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSweetCheeks/pseuds/LittleSweetCheeks
Summary: “You’re asleep.”“At work?!”





	A Little Support

It wasn’t like Spencer totally hated his new job, in fact, most of the time he loved it. He’d decided to take the opportunity after teaching one class and switched to teaching at the academy full time for the fall semester. He’d taught four classes his first term and had found he’d loved it as much as his mother always had.

When it came time for sign-ups for the spring term, Spencer’s boss had approached him with an unusual problem, all of Spencer’s classes were already full and they had a wait list. He’d readily agreed to take on two more classes, with his skills, the extra load wouldn’t be a problem. And it wasn’t like he had to vanish to chase down serial killers anymore. Even still, there was a wait list for his classes, but two weeks in and so far, not a single student had dropped out.

In his apartment that night, Spencer was reviewing lesson plans for the following week, tweaking things that hadn’t working in the fall and rearranging his notes. He was spread out on his couch, books all around him. His mind wandered, as it often did when performing more mundane tasks, to his mother, and the love she once had for lecturing. He remembered as a small child, sitting in on her classes and listening. The students had loved her as well. He could remember as her disease had started to affect her ability to teach, how other professors had started sitting in on her classes to jump in if she began to have a bad day. He could remember her being put first on sabbatical and then tenured before being given full retirement.

The university had made sure she would be cared for medically as they had always offered all their tenured retired professors full health insurance as part of their packages. Spencer had always been thankful for that.

His mind was still stumbling between memories of his mother and reviewing his notes and Spencer didn’t even notice when he dozed off.

==

Spencer blinked and looked around. He was in the lecture hall, standing on stage, but he couldn’t remember how he got there. Quickly, he glanced down and then sighed in relief to see that he was fully, and appropriately, dressed. Turning around, he saw that the hall was full of students quietly waiting on him to begin except he couldn’t make them out like he usually could, they were all just individual dark shadows. He wondered if this as what sinking into madness was like.

The projector overhead whirred to life and Spencer looked up to see what was on the screen. He had no notes ready, but perhaps he could just make it up. The screen read _Talking Down Unsubs- How Hostage Negotiation Works in Behavioral Analysis_. ‘This I can do’, he thought to himself. The steps of negotiation were the corner piece of what they did in the BAU. He thumbed the clicker that had somehow materialized in his hand and the slide changed. The first point of the lecture was labeled  Active Listening. He turned to the class.

“Forgive me today, I don’t seem to have brought my notes. I’ll try to remember everything we need to cover.” He chuckled at the thought. “Today we are going to review the process of negotiating with an unsub and how these steps you’ve already learned in previous classes are applied when it comes to Behavioral Analysis.” His fingers drummed on his leg as his mind worked. “You’ve already learned the six key points to active listening, so we aren’t going to spend too much time on the actual points themselves, but instead we will discuss their application. The first is asking open ended questions. Asking questions that require an answer beyond a simple yes or no. You want your suspect to start talking and the easiest way to do that is to ask him something.”

His mind took him momentarily back to a day when he was alone and staring at a man hell-bent on avenging his daughter’s capture. Spencer began to outline the case for the class and touched on the purpose of getting the person talking. “I believe that, had his daughter not been present, I could have talked him into surrender. But you must always remember, human beings are incapable of being truly rational. People are emotional and unpredictable. This job will show you that time and again. It made no rational sense for a man to shoot a teenaged boy. Just like it makes no rational sense sometimes for a suspect to commit suicide or for parents to protect their child who is a killer. That’s a big one. Never, ever, underestimate the lengths a parent will go to to protect their child.”

Spencer looked at the blank papers on the lectern a moment as he gathered his thoughts. “Your first priority should always be to listen, truly listen. Not be thinking about how they’re wrong or what you will say back, because then you might miss a clue.”

“Like a clue to grab a hidden gun while being kicked?” A voice asked from halfway up the risers.

“I’m sorry?” Spencer turned, only to find all the shadow students had vanished and one person remained.

“You said you should always listen or you might miss a clue. Like when your boss insists on kicking you senseless to get a hidden gun to you?”

Spencer’s jaw dropped as the person lifted their head and he saw Aaron’s face. “Hotch. How… How are you here?”

Aaron gave him a smirk. “Where else would I be?”

“I…” He glanced back to the screen, but it was gone now too. “I don’t understand.”

“You’re asleep.”

“At work?!”

“No.” He raised a calming hand. “On your couch. You’re at home. Safe. Not sure about ‘and sound’ because that couch does _not_ look comfortable. You really should get rid of it.”

Spencer’s forehead wrinkled. “But…why? Why you? Why now?”

“I don’t know, Spencer. All I know is your mind created me here, now, in this place, for you to…talk to maybe.” Aaron tilted his head. “Is there anything going on?”

“No, everything is great.”

Aaron just waited.

Finally, Spencer sighed and sat down in the chair he didn’t remember being on the stage. “I left the BAU.” He chewed his lip. “I am one semester into ten that I will teach for the Academy.”

“Ten?” Aaron inquired.

Spencer nodded. “I need five more years to qualify for my full retirement. I know I’ll have to wait almost another ten years to actually receive it, but I can always take a teaching position somewhere in the meantime.”

“Or get another degree.”

“Yeah, or get another degree… I was thinking law.”

“I know.”

Spencer looked up at him in surprise.

Aaron chuckled. “Why law though?”

He shrugged. “Why not? It always seemed to help you with what we did.”

“Sometimes.” He confirmed. “But you aren’t going back to that job.”

“No. I can’t. It was destroying me. And it destroyed Gideon… tried to destroy Elle… Destroyed you…”

“Did it?”

It was Spencer’s turn to tip his head in questioning.

“I’ll admit it changed me. And not necessarily for the better. But did it destroy me?”

“Uh…” Spencer thought. “I…”

Aaron finally stood and walked down the stairs until he was finally sitting directly in front of the younger man. “Reid… Spencer. Where am I right now?”

“What?” He gave him a confused look.

“This here is a dream, I’m not really here. But where am I?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you know, though. Where am I?”

“Somewhere with Jack.”

Aaron nodded. “I’m with Jack. The job separated me from him a lot. Too much. But now, despite everything, I’m with Jack.”

Spencer studied him a moment. “You’re just a figment of my imagination.”

“I’m your memory of me.”

He stared at his former boss, dressed in relaxed jeans and a pullover. “I would have thought I would remember you in a suit.” He waved the thought away. “But… Why now? Am I going crazy?”

Understanding seemed to cross Hotch’s face. “Ah.”

“Ah, what?”

“That’s what this is about then.”

“What? What’s what about?”

“You’re worried you will become your mother.”

“I- I’m not?”

Aaron’s brows rose to his hairline in question.

“Okay, maybe.” Spencer deflated. “She loved to lecture, to teach. It’s why I’ve avoided it for so long. Once she took the retirement from the university, no one even noticed what happened to her. No one missed her or even realized I was the one caring for her. But I don’t have kids or family or anything. If I end up like her, will anyone notice? Will anyone care?”

“Spencer. When was the last time you called Derek? Or Penelope? Or any of the team?”

The younger man shrugged.

“I can tell you, you know.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Why haven’t you called?”

“I- I didn’t want to bother them. When Morgan left, he wasn’t constantly calling us.”

“But Morgan had a new family, a new baby at home. The team has always been your family.”

“You were my family.” Reid bit out, sharper than he’d intended. “Sorry.”

“No, don’t be. You could call me. Come and visit Jack and I.”

“Where are you?”

It was Aaron’s turn to shrug. “I’m not sure. I only know what you know, remember? But I do know who would be able to tell you.”

“Garcia?”

Aaron thought about that a second. “Probably. I was thinking more along the lines of Dave though.”

“Yeah. That makes sense.”

He stood and finally stepped up onto the stage with Spencer, pulling him to his feet. “Ask him. Arrange to come out and see us when you have time off. We can always text or something in the meantime. And to be honest, it’s not like I have a lot of family or friends to lean on anymore either. My only living relative is my brother, who is in jail.”

“Okay.”

Aaron sighed and tugged on his arms. “Come here.”

Spencer went rigid as strong arms wrapped around him in a hug. “What are you doing?”

“It’s called a hug, Spencer. Perhaps I should have been doing this more often if you have to ask that.”

“I know what a hug is.”

“Then accept it and shut up.” His words were softened by the grin in his voice.

“Fine. If you insist.” He wrapped his arms around Aaron’s waist.

==

Spencer startled awake and attempted to flail against whatever was holding him down. He tried to fight against the restraint but instead ended up rolling off the couch and onto the floor. “Ow! Shit!” He gasped as his head bounced off the wood floor. Carefully he unwound himself and crawled back onto the couch, leaving the homicidal blanket behind. Glancing around the room, he rubbed at his dry eyes, cursing having fallen asleep with his contacts in. Again. He spotted his phone on the table and grabbed it, dialing a number from memory.

“Hello?” A voice grumbled.

“Hey, Rossi. It’s Spencer. Did I wake you?”

“No, um, no, it’s fine. What’s up? It’s good to hear from you, how are you?”

“I’m okay, I guess. Hey, would you by chance have Hotch’s new contact information?”

“Yeah, I have it.”

“Could you send it to me? I was thinking of giving him a call.”

“Sure, I can do that. He’d probably love to hear from you.”

“Thanks.”


End file.
